Houston Photograph

William Branham's story about the Houston Photograph of a light above William Branham's head, commonly referred to as his "halo photograph", was confirmed by the FBI to be a fictional tale invented for his stage persona.  Freedom of Information Act response can be found here:
FBI Response to Branham's Claims about George J. Lacy and Photo Examination   

On August 28, 1974, one Mr. Warnock of the Knollwood Church of Christ in Xenia, Ohio, inquired about cult propaganda spread by William Branham's "Message" cult following.  Warnock knew that if William Branham's claims were true, and George J. Lacy, the alleged "head of the FBI", had examined the photograph in Washington, DC, the Bureau would have a record of Lacy, the photograph, and the examination.  On September 5, 1974, Director Clarence M. Kelly confirmed this story not to be true.  According to Kelly, the FBI had no information about the photograph, and George Lacy had never been employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[1]

In a January 1950, a photograph was captured William Branham speaking before an audience at the "Faith Healing Debate" [2] in the Sam Houston Coliseum of Houston, TX. The photograph contains a streak of light above William Branham's head, which William Branham claimed to be the same "Pillar of Fire" that led the Biblical Children of Israel out of Egypt. [3] The newspaper reporters at the highly publicized event did not seem to notice anything unusual; the coliseum had many lights of varying configuration. [4] Of the many reports describing the event, only the unusual circumstances that led to the event and the brawl that broke out afterwards [5] were covered.

When William Branham attempted to use the photograph for the cover of his upcoming Life Story publication, he was refused due to copyright infringement. An announcement was published in Branham's Voice of Healing publication describing the delay:

Cause of the Delay of the Branham Life Story: We regret the unexpected delay in the Branham Life Story. Brother Branham had received permission to use the copyrighted picture taken in the Sam Houston Coliseum. This he planned to use on the cover. However at the last moment this permission was denied, so an extra six weeks were required by the Doubleday publishers to prepare a new cover, which is done by a special process. We now have a promise of the books in the early part of December. [6]

After the delay, William Branham began claiming that the photograph was held for investigation by George J. Lacy, who Branham claimed to be the "head" of the F.B.I.. Branham alleged that Lacy confirmed the photograph to be "supernatural" and then immediately sent it to Washington, DC for verification.[7] Branham further alleged that after verification in Washington, D.C., the photograph was in the "Religious Hall of Art" as the only supernatural photograph.

Lacy's investigative report, however, made no mention of the supernatural, and only provided confirmation that the photograph had not been altered. He simply stated the fact that the light had struck the lens. [8] Lacy did mention the fact that his investigation was the result of a request submitted by Rev. Gordon Lindsay, who was representing William Branham.

Though William Branham claimed that his "halo" photograph was the only one that God allowed to develop, [9] many other photographs of the event were printed and published in the local newspapers. [10] In fact, many of Branham's claims regarding the photograph and investigation were inaccurate. George Lacy was a private investigator, consulted at times by the F.B.I. but not employed by the Bureau. [11] After his dishonorable discharge from the Houston Police, [12] it is unlikely that Lacy would have been eligible for employment in a Federal agency, especially with such rank. And though the photograph was sent to Washington, D.C., it was sent to the Library of Congress for copyright - not for investigation. The "Religious Hall of Art" of Branham's claim does not appear to have ever existed.

 Voice of God Recordings had Christopher A. Brown colorize the photograph and sent their color version of the original for copyright claim in April of 2009.  Voice of God Recordings is listed on the claim as “employer for hire”, and claimed copyright to protect their sales of the color photograph.  They then started selling the color version on their website and in their store for $20.00.[13]

Beatles with "halos"

Pope with "halo" after adjusting to black-and-white